Ryszard Czarnecki

On 26 April 2009 – less than two months before the European elections – Czarnecki wrote a blog entry, describing the "troubles" of Róża Thun (a Polish politician and an Austrian Countess-consort) with the Polish National Electoral Commission.[2] According to Czarnecki, the Civic Platform intended to register her candidacy under the name of Róża Thun,[2] but the Commission refused, stating that according to the regulations, all candidates must appear under their full names on the ballot papers.[2] "And so, the voters will see Róża Maria Gräfin von Thun und Hohenstein in her full grace",[2] Czarnecki wrote. He further asserted that "a Gräfin with a German-sounding name might do harm to the Civic Platform".[3][4]

On 20 May 2009, it was revealed that Czarnecki himself would appear on the ballot sheets not under his assumed Polish name of Ryszard Henryk, but as Richard Henry, since he was born in the United Kingdom.[4][5] Czarnecki stated that his situation is different, as he didn't choose his names, while Thun chose her surname by marrying her husband.[5] Countess Thun retorted her name came out of love,[5] adding "I pity Richard Henry Czarnecki".[5]

In an interview published on January 3, 2018 in a Polish right-wing portal, Ryszard Czarnecki compared Róża Thun to Nazi collaborators, specifically people called szmalcownik.[6][7] Consequently, at the request of the leaders of four European Parliament factions,[8] on 7 February 2018 by secret ballot he was dismissed from the post of vice-president of the European Parliament for “serious breaches” of the Parliament's Rules (447 MEPs voted for his dismissal, 196 against, and 30 abstained).[9][10][11] This was the first time in the history a vice-president of the European Parliament has been dismissed.[12]

The case was reported in international media.[9][11] Before the vote, Czarnecki urged MEPs to vote against his dismissal, arguing that such a vote would “support freedom of speech”,[11] and in a letter to the president of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani, he lied that he had not compare Róża Thun to Nazi collaborators.[13] In June 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union dismissed Ryszard Czarnecki's complaint about the dismissal.[14][15]

Róża Thun considered Ryszard Czarnecki's statement humiliating.[15] She demanded an apology in the media and a payment of 50,000 zloty for the organization Forum for Dialogue (Forum dla Dialogu) and the “Children of the Holocaust” Association (Stowarzyszenie „Dzieci Holocaustu”).[15][16] In August 2019, the District Court in Warsaw ruled that Ryszard Czarnecki, by comparing Róża Thun to Nazi collaborators, violated her good name, and therefore ordered him to publish an apology to the MEP on the portal that published the original interview, as well as on his own blog, within 14 days from the judgment validation.[16] The court also ordered Czarnecki a payment for the benefit of the two organizations mentioned, of 15 thousand zlotys each.[16] Ryszard Czarnecki announced an appeal against the sentence.[16] In September 2020, the Court of Appeal in Warsaw upheld the judgment of the first instance court,[17] ordering Ryszard Czarnecki to apologize for an “inappropriate and deeply hurtful” comparison, which was unlawful, and to pay the sum ordered in the first instance for the benefit of the two organizations.[18] The court indicated that the defendant exceeded the limits of acceptable criticism and abused the freedom of speech.[18]